A New York man was charged with interfering with a flight crew when he attempted to open an airplane's exterior door while in the air. The flight from Washington, D.C., to Las Vegas, NV, was grounded in Denver after Gregory Thomas Burns, 33, tried to open the outside door and then the cockpit door.
The Huffington Post reports that Burns could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for his actions. As an explanation, Burns admits that he was far from sober during the flight.
ABC 7 News tallies up that while he was in the airport and on the plane, Burns had a total of 4 Guinness beers, 3 gin drinks, a double gin, and two Lorazepan pills (which are similar to tranquilizers). However, it is not clear how many hours had passed during the time that he consumed all of those drinks.
Burns also suffers from "auditory, visual and tactile hallucinations." The whole time, he thought that they were still on the ground and that he was on the wrong plane.
The passengers believed that he may have been a terrorist because of his actions and the two satchels that he was carrying. Authorities determined that he was not a terrorist.
Related Resources:
- In-Flight Injuries on Airplanes (FindLaw)
- The Charges Of A Real Airplane Terrorist (Courtside)
- New York Criminal Defense Lawyers (FindLaw)
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